More than a decade ago, Congress passed a law providing a path to citizenship for certain married immigrants who were victims of domestic violence. The hope was to keep them from suffering in silence, too afraid to report the crime because they might risk being forced from their new home.

But now, immigration attorneys are advising clients who entered the United States illegally not to seek the full benefits of the law, amid growing concerns that the government’s new interpretation of which immigrants are eligible will put them on a path out of the country instead.

Those concerns have taken on new urgency in recent months – and lawmakers are calling for answers – as immigration officials have either rejected or indefinitely put on hold several applications for permanent residency.

One San Jose woman who accused her husband of beating and sexually assaulting her was among those denied, and she now fears she’ll have to return to Mexico.

“I did everything I was told to do to become a citizen,” the 26-year-old, who is working with Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto, told the Mercury News. “They now say it’s not enough. I’m scared.”

Immigration officials last week maintained that nothing had changed in their approach to the 1994 Violence Against Women Act, which allows qualifying immigrants who are married to U.S. citizens or legal U.S. residents to begin the lengthy process of obtaining citizenship without the help of their spouses.

The law and several revisions were created so victims could report crimes without fear that their abusers would hold their immigration status against them and silence them with threats of deportation. There is no dispute on how the law applies to legal immigrants.

However, an issue has arisen over whether the law was meant to create a special process for illegal immigrants because those immigrants would normally have to leave the country first to become eligible for permanent residency. Lawmakers like Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, and Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass., who have written to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services seeking answers, say that penalty should not apply in the case of domestic violence victims.

But federal immigration officials are arguing that the Violence Against Women Act and its revisions don’t include special provisions for illegal immigrants. They note that illegal immigrants should be required to return to their home countries to get a visa, with the added restriction that if they have lived in the United States illegally for a year or more, they cannot return for 10 years.

San Jose woman’s case

That would apply to the San Jose woman. The woman, whose name is being withheld because the Mercury News doesn’t identify victims of sex crimes, sneaked into the country in 2003 to join her siblings.

Soon after, she met her husband, a Mexican native living in the United States legally. Almost immediately after their marriage, she said, he began coming home drunk and abusing her. She and their daughter, now 3, left him about a year ago.

The woman then took the first step toward citizenship, which includes getting federal approval to apply for residency as a domestic violence victim. The approval – which hinges on a detailed account of the abuse, which would include police reports and court documents – allows victims to continue to work in the country and to obtain a driver’s license.

Denied requests

It was only when she was interviewed a few months ago for the next step in the process, the application for permanent residency, that her illegal entry into the county was discovered and her request denied. Her attorney is now appealing the decision.

“I think this interpretation flies in the face of congressional intent,” said her attorney, Mary Dutcher of Community Legal Services in East Palo Alto. “It’s hard to think what is reason and logic, and cause and effect in this world of immigration.”

Spokesman Chris Bentley said immigration services Director Emilio Gonzalez would respond to lawmakers’ concerns directly, but he provided no timetable.

While immigration officials say they have been consistent in their interpretation of the domestic violence law, immigration-rights advocates say illegal immigrants were treated more leniently under its provisions until August, when an e-mail reportedly went out to immigration officials around the country advising them to turn down applications for anyone who entered the country illegally, regardless of whether they were victims of domestic violence.

The e-mail came just as the Bush administration was announcing a renewed push to enforce immigration laws. Susan Bowyer, the managing attorney for the Oakland-based International Institute of the Bay Area, said immigration officials who process applications read excerpts of the e-mail to members of her staff.

Bentley, however, said he was unaware of any e-mail and added that there are several reasons to deny a residency application, including misdemeanor convictions for crimes such as petty theft. He added that he couldn’t comment specifically on any of the denied cases.

It’s unknown exactly how many applicants have so far been denied or held across the country, but based on anecdotal evidence, advocates and attorneys say they’ve seen dozens during the past few months.

In her letter, Lofgren wrote that Congress made an exception for domestic violence victims in one of its immigration revisions, and that any other interpretations of the law “flies in the face” of plain language.

Advocates and attorneys are hoping the matter is resolved soon, but in the meantime, they’re suggesting their clients take only the first step – getting federal approval to apply for permanent residency as a domestic violence victim – so they can continue to work in the United States legally.

Attorneys say they will suggest that their clients renew their work permits as often as they can until the issue is cleared up.

Added Bowyer: “What really scares me is there are a lot of people unknowingly blundering into this situation.”

“The East Bay Times is honored for its relentless efforts to obtain police body camera videos, inspection data, and other public records in the wake of the deadly Ghost Ship fire,” the Northern California Society of Professional Journalists announced Wednesday.